Theologie Calvins
of John Calvin, c. 1830.]] The theology of John Calvin has been influential on its influence on Calvinism and Protestant thought more generally. There has been disagreement among scholars regarding the degree to which later Calvinism corresponds to Calvin's own theology. The Encyclopedia of Christianity suggests that His theological importance is tied to the attempted systematization of Christian doctrine. In the doctrine of predestination; in his simple, eschatologically grounded distinction between an immanent and a transcendent eternal work of salvation, resting on Christology and the sacraments; and in his emphasis upon the work of the Holy Spirit in producing the obedience of faith in the regenerate (the tertius usus legis, or so-called third use of the law), he elaborated the orthodoxy that would have a lasting impact on Reformed theology.Erwin Fahlbusch et al., The Encyclopedia of Christianity, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999), 324 Publications Calvin developed his theology in his biblical commentaries as well as his sermons and treatises, but the most concise expression of his views is found in his magnum opus, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. He intended that the book be used as a summary of his views on Christian theology and that it be read in conjunction with his commentaries. ; The various editions of that work span nearly his entire career as a reformer, and the successive revisions of the book show that his theology changed very little from his youth to his death. ; ; Themes Scripture Calvin expounded his view of Scripture in Book I of The Institutes of the Christian Religion. He viewed Scripture as necessary in that General revelation cannot in itself give us a saving knowledge of God, and authoritative in its being equivalent to an utterance of God given from heaven.[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.viii.html Institutes I.vii.1]. Calvin viewed Scripture as being both majestic and simple. According to Ford Lewis Battles, Calvin had discovered that "sublimity of style and sublimity of thought were not coterminous."Battles, Ford Lewis. "God Was Accommodating Himself to Human Capacity," in Donald McKim (ed.) Readings in Calvin's Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 38. Atonement R. T. Kendall has argued that Calvin's view of the atonement differs from that of later Calvinists, especially the Puritans. Kendall interpreted Calvin as believing that Christ died for all people, but intercedes only for the elect. Kendall's thesis has been disputed by Paul Helm, who argues that "both Calvin and the Puritans taught that Christ died for the elect and intercedes for the elect." Union with Christ The believer's mystical union with Christ has an important place in Calvin's theology. According to Alister McGrath, Calvin provided a solution to the Reformation]] problem of how justification relates to sanctification. Calvin suggested that both came out of union with Christ. McGrath notes that while Martin Bucer suggested that justification causes (moral) regeneration, Calvin argued that "both justification and regeneration are the results of the believer's union with Christ through faith."Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction (3rd ed; Oxford: Blackwell, 1999): 125. Predestination Calvin discusses predestination in his third book of the Institutes. It "does not stand at the beginning of the dogmatic system as it does in Zwingli or Beza", but it "does tend to burst through the soteriological-Christological framework."Fahlbusch et al, 329. Double predestination? Sacraments Held that there were but two sacraments - what about ordination? Calvin believed in a real spiritual presence of Christ at the Eucharist.Cunnington, 217. For Calvin, union with Christ was at the heart of the Lord's Supper.Cunnington, 217. According to Brian Gerrish, there are three different interpretations of the Lord's Supper within non-Lutheran Protestant theology: symbolic memorialism, found in Zwingli, which sees it merely as a sign; symbolic parallelism, typified by Bullinger, and symbolic instrumentalism, Calvin's view, which hold that the Eucharist is “a present happening that is actually brought about through the signs.” See Ralph Cunnington and Melvin Tinker Calvin's sacramental theology was criticized by later Reformed writers. Robert L. Dabney, for example, called it “not only incomprehensible but impossible.” Also, infant baptism - gets its own chapter in the institutes. Notes References * . * . * * .